| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Protagoras by Plato: I should be ashamed, Socrates, he said, to acknowledge this, which
nevertheless many may be found to assert.
And shall I argue with them or with you? I replied.
I would rather, he said, that you should argue with the many first, if you
will.
Whichever you please, if you will only answer me and say whether you are of
their opinion or not. My object is to test the validity of the argument;
and yet the result may be that I who ask and you who answer may both be put
on our trial.
Protagoras at first made a show of refusing, as he said that the argument
was not encouraging; at length, he consented to answer.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Witch, et. al by Anton Chekhov: looking round.
"Lady," said Rodion, walking after her, "lady, wait a bit; hear
what I would say to you."
He followed her without his cap, and spoke softly as though
begging.
"Lady, wait and hear what I will say to you."
They had walked out of the village, and Elena Ivanovna stopped
beside a cart in the shade of an old mountain ash.
"Don't be offended, lady," said Rodion. "What does it mean? Have
patience. Have patience for a couple of years. You will live
here, you will have patience, and it will all come round. Our
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Soul of a Bishop by H. G. Wells: that at last he had discovered the saving topic.
"Ha'dly at all," she said. "I shall just have it pointed white
and do the doa--I'm not su' how I shall do the doa. Whetha I
shall do the doa gold or a vehy, vehy 'itch blue."
For a time she and Lady Ella, to whom these ideas were novel,
discussed the animation of grey and sombre towns by house
painting. In such matter Lady Sunderbund had a Russian mind. "I
can't bea' g'ey," she said. "Not in my su'oundings, not in my
k'eed, nowhe'e." She turned to the bishop. "If I had my way I
would paint you' cathed'al inside and out."
"They used to be painted," said the bishop. "I don't know if
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: science. The gospel, on the contrary, only speaks of the general
relations of men to God and to each other - beyond which it
inculcates and imposes no point of faith. This alone, besides a
thousand other reasons, would suffice to prove that the former of
these religions will never long predominate in a cultivated and
democratic age, whilst the latter is destined to retain its sway
at these as at all other periods.
But in continuation of this branch of the subject, I find
that in order for religions to maintain their authority, humanly
speaking, in democratic ages, they must not only confine
themselves strictly within the circle of spiritual matters: their
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